For Ever by CJ Valles Blog Tour Guest Post

Blurb:
For Ever starts now
Sixteen-year-old Wren Sullivan doesn?t want to know what other people are thinking about her?because most of the time it sucks. Too bad since that?s what happens every time she looks into someone?s eyes.

When she moves to Portland, Oregon, after her parents? divorce, Wren?s just hoping to get through the rest of her junior year unscathed. Instead, before the end of her second day in school, she wakes up in the hospital after her very own freaky demonic-possession incident. Wren can?t remember much. But soon she finds out that her ?episode? happened right after she locked eyes with the one classmate who happens to have gone missing.

Wren starts digging through people?s heads for the truth about him, and finds ? nothing. Godlike hotness? Yep. But nobody knows who Ever Casey really is. Even weirder, they don?t seem to care that he just disappeared. So, when he randomly shows up again in her first period class, she?s determined to get some answers. He may be perfect on the outside, but with one look into his eyes, Wren discovers his mind is also perfect ? perfectly empty.

Or is there something he doesn?t want her to see there that will put her and anyone near her in danger?

When For Ever ends, Never begins.
Never, the second book in The Ever Series, is coming soon.

Guest Post:

How Did I Get Here Again? 

How did I end up in the writing profession? My quippy response? Because I suck at math. No, really, I think I ended up in the writing profession because I wanted to do something I love. And I’ve always loved reading and loved stories—starting with Nancy Drew when I was a little kid. I loved being in someone else’s world. … I think this is partially how I survived junior high as the resident wallflower. When I was young, I read all the time. This continued in high school. In college I totally stopped. The funny thing is I blame this on majoring in English. I got so sick of analyzing—rather than enjoying—the books I was reading. I just wanted to read, darnit!

The writing part started with a column for the high school newspaper. Then I took a creative writing class my junior year of college (with the most amazing professor, namely Pam Houston). When I got my first “real” job out of college—editing phonebook-sized medical manuals—I completely stopped writing fiction.

First I stopped reading. Then I stopped writing, for myself at least. In reality, most of the jobs I’ve had since college have involved writing or editing in some capacity, but never fiction. So, when I finally quit my latest job in public relations to follow my future-husband across the state of California, I started my freelance writing career … and I started reading again. Voraciously. First it was Carl Hiaasen’s latest novel—and then every other book he had written going backward. That summer (2004, I think), I started writing my first novel, a strange comedy-crime-thriller. Did I finish it? Heck no! But it was a start.

Then I got on a YA kick and suddenly decided I wanted to do my own story—and that I was going to start and finish writing said novel in 60 days. Don’t ask what got into me. June through August, late at night, every night. Close to five hundred pages. As soon as that puppy was finished, I felt like I had crossed an invisible barrier. I did it! I broke through years and years of writer’s block, but never published it. Mostly because I sent it out to more than a dozen agents and heard crickets chirping in response. The ones who did respond said it was well written, but they just weren’t interested. The experience kind of killed that novel for me. As a result, when I sent For Ever out to the handful of agents who had responded nicely to my first query—and heard crickets again, I decided, “Well, I love this book, so I’m getting it out there.”

Currently, I have half a dozen or so novels in various states of what I’ll call unfinishment. Some stories I feel I’ll come back to and finish at a later date. Others were more for practice and I don’t feel like they’re viable for public consumption for a variety of reasons. When I finally finished writing—and then got through the whole process of editing For Ever—it was actually my husband who took my finger and pressed down on Amazon’s “publish” button, because I wanted to go back and edit the book another hundred or two times—or maybe chicken out altogether.

Right now I am feverishly working on For Ever’s sequel, and just working to get book #2 out there feels like a huge accomplishment. I just wish I could get it done faster, but every day is different, and writer’s block still pounces on me when I can least afford it!


About the Author:
I grew up in Southern California before moving to Northern California for college, where I majored in English and psychology. I've been a professional writer for more than a decade, but I just finished my first novel in 2008 -- for fun and practice. Then I wrote the second one -- For Ever -- which is for sale on Amazon. When I'm not writing fiction, I work as a freelance public relations writer. I live in Portland, Ore., with my husband, the saint who spent an entire weekend reading For Ever.

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